[Another Black Day was the first band on the bill, but we missed them.]

Adam and I got there just as Bury Your Dead was starting. It was typical hardcore fare, but with the off-rhythm stuff that I don’t really care for. They were fine, but I’m not running out to get any of their stuff. It was passable.

In This Moment was another story entirely. Metalcore must be starting to jump the shark, because this was the most “put-together” band I’ve seen in awhile. They had a chick lead singer, and they were from LA. Gimmick city. Most female lead singers of metal bands fall into two categories. Either they can scream really well, or sing really well. This girl did neither, it was just a lot of screeching. And the 2nd to last song they played, which they called their “hardest”, was the most formulaic, metalcore-by-numbers song I think I’ve ever heard. As in, I could predict all of the changes, the breakdowns, everything. Terribly generic.

Anyway, after that 40 or so minutes, it was time for us to head into the pit for some action. The floor filled up, and everyone was quite excited. So was the band! They blew out of the gate with “Ashes”, then into “The Way of the Fist”. I really don’t remember the rest of the order, but they played a good chunk of the album, a couple of the bonus tracks, and a cover of “Bad Company” which was pretty cool. Everyone on the floor was bouncing around, a couple pits, a wall of death during “White Knuckles”, and general mayhem. The only idiots were these two 16-year old guys, who were pretty much holding hands the entire night, and using each other as leverage to jump (and drive their elbows) into everyone else. It’s like, if you can’t mosh and hold your spot like a normal person, don’t be a douche. They got smashed during the wall of death, so karma got em in the end! They ended up doing “The Bleeding” as the encore, and at the end of the song, had a little 7-year old kid get up on stage. When asked who his favorite band was, the kid looked kind of sheepish and pointed at lead singer Ivan Moody, who told him it didn’t necessarily have to be his band, and the kid actually mumbled “Slipknot” instead!
Setlist (probably not in order): Ashes, The Way Of The Fist, White Knuckles, Salvation, The Devil’s Own, Meet The Monster, Never Enough, Stranger Than Fiction, Bad Company, The Bleeding